Month: January 2019

The World Association of Journalists of Wine and Spirits announced a few weeks ago their World Rankings for extra virgin olive oil. These are based on a system in which each olive oil amasses points based on analysis of 28 international competition awards.

We are very proud that our Lemongrass and Tarragon Olive Oil received the highest ranking in the 2018 Condimento – Flavored Evoo category. And you have to consider, this was amongst more than nine thousand samples of olive oils from 30 countries! This is the first time that a Greek olive oil lands on the first place in this category. This is also the fifth international award that our Lemongrass and Tarragon Olive Oil receives in 2018.

Our Lemongrass and Tarragon Olive Oil is a special oil is made from semi ripe olives crushed with fresh lemongrass and tarragon. We use 1200g of semi-ripe olives to produce 100ml of this cold extracted oil. It is produced in Sparta using exclusively koroneiki olives, kalamon olives and koutsouroelia olives.

A few months back, we saw that our lovely Amarylis had made chickpeas with orange, using our olives and capers. What a wonderful combination of flavours, I thought at the time! So when thinking of this week’s recipe, and with all the citrus fruit around, this idea came to mind. Chickpeas and orange! And as winter makes us all feel really cold, we thought of adding something different to our chickpeas. Saffron!

Our organic Greek Saffron comes from the Kozani Cooperative in Northern Greece. It has a unique floral flavour and aroma, while it gives an exquisite amber colour to many dishes, desserts and beverages. Including our chickpeas! Oh and did we mention it has antioxidant properties amongst other things?

The night before, soak your chickpeas. The morning after, boil the chickpeas in plenty of water, until soft.

Preheat the oven at 180C.

Finely slice the leek and chop the onion. In an oven proof casserole, heat fry your leek and onion in the olive oil until transluscent and slightly caramelised. Remove from the heat and add the chickpeas, orange juice and zest, saffron, smoked paprika, salt and honey. Stir well and place in the oven. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half, until the flavours have blended, adding a bit more water if needed.

Serve with rice or Greek yogurt, fresh herbs and more honey if you desire.

This week we are trying out something a little bit different. January days can sometimes feel a bit dull, but not for us here at Oliveology. On the contrary, they often inspire us to think outside the box, add more colours and flavours to our weekly cooking routine. Cooking after all should be more about creativity and less about routine, right?

So what are we making? To begin with, we selected two of our favourite winter vegetables, beetroot and sweet potato. Remember our beetroot dip or our lentil and sweet potato vegan soup? This dish is vegetarian too, you guessed it right.

But these are no ordinary roasted vegetables. Inspired by the Greek cooking magazine Gastronomos, we are making them sweet and a little bit sour. We will use honey to bring out the vegetables’ natural sweetness, and balsamic vinegar to add a very welcome acidic note. And the ingredients that bring everything together: oranges and grapefruits!

Oh, and did we mention that apart from spending a bit of time preparing your vegetables, this recipe needs nothing more? That’s what we call an easy January dinner!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and that you are well settled into the new year. January is an interesting month. Sometimes we feel very motivated to change all those things that we were not satisfied about in 2018. Sometimes we feel a bit gloomy, cold weather and all. This week’s recipe is the most wonderful way to energise and motivate you. It is very colourful too, which always makes us feel better! And let us say, it is full of vitamin C, with carrots and citrus fruit.

It is the perfect salad to pair with the citrus dressing we made a few weeks back. But if you are not in the mood to make the dressing, just add a bit of olive oil and a few splashes of white balsamic vinegar with honey.

Peel and grate the carrots.
Fillet the oranges and grapefruit: Using a sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off the orange. Place your knife where the pith meets the flesh and continue cutting downward in a curved motion and following the shape of the orange. You should be left with a peeled orange with no white stuff around it. Cut between these membranes so as to segment the orange, retaining any juices.

Peel the carrots and then keep peeling, so that you have thin carrot ribbons. If you prefer you can also grate the carrots.

In a bowl place the carrots and citrus pieces. Add a generous amount of dressing (or olive oil and white balsamic vinegar), season with salt and toss well to combine.

Serve with the raw pistachios, roughly chopped and a bit of parsley.

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